You've got to be sh*tting me!

I just downloaded the last 90 days in bank statements.... and we spend 40% of our income on food. Yes, you read that right, Food/Drink/Groceries currently accounts for 40% of our income. That is effing crazy insane. Between grocery stores, convenience stores, Costco, Trader Joe's, QFC, Safeway, The Grocery Outlet, our bi-weekly organic produce box, fancy grass fed organic meat stores, farmers markets, and then breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and drinks out.... the monthly number is in the thousands for 2 people.  No kids.  No pets.  No crazy allergies or diets.  Normal, regular, average people (one who is supposed to be on WW). 

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE food.  It's an unhealthy obsession.  I love cooking food, eating food, thinking about food, and reading about food.  I love looking up recipes, which lead to making up weekly dinner menus, which then populate my grocery list.  I love grocery shopping and have see no problem with going to 2-3-4 different stores!  And I food shop weekly.  WEEKLY.  I have no problem going to a store in the middle of the week because I need something, forgot something, ran out of something or I'm just craving something else  (god help me when I ever get pregnant!)

Then there is the eating out. I have eaten every meal under the sun out in a restaurant. Sometimes all in one day.  (And then I go home and "Yelp" about it.) The average cost for 2 people to eat good breakfast in Seattle is $40. Are you kidding me?  $40?!  Yes.  And I average going out to breakfast once a week. Breakfast has to be a cheapest and easiest thing to make at home.  But I swear the place up the street has the best Eggs Benedict EVER!  (And I wonder why I can’t lose weight – ha!). 

I’m a foodie and nothing makes me happier than a good meal.  My entire life revolves around food, drinks and entertaining.  You will never be invited over and not offered an appetizer or refreshment.  But 40% is ridiculous, and I’m not entertaining but MAYBE once a month.

I do not like being told we can’t afford to do something, when our weekly food spending is in the hundreds…. Let's be honest, I don't like being told No, ever.  For any reason.  But, when you do the math, we spend hundreds of dollars a week on stuff that we eventually poop out. I’m not trying to be vile, but let’s get real.  

• We need to TRY to get both the grocery spending and the going out spending down to $100-150/week each.  Which is still a lot, don’t get me wrong, but that would be cutting it in half.
• I think we need to use envelops..... And when the money is gone, it's GONE.
• We need to limit our eating out to ONCE a day. No more eating more than one meal out. No going out to lunch and then going out to dinner or going out to dinner and then going out drinking.
• We need to pack more lunches, pack snacks and picnics when we're going out all day.
• We need to stop wasting so much food (which means throwing it out cooked or uncooked).
• We need to limit our lunches out to ONCE a week.
• We need to try to limit our Costco visits to ONCE a month...and increasing what we buy.... instead of buying one pack of chicken a week, we buy multiple packs of chicken, and other non perishable/freezeble stuff. That way we aren't tempted to buy crap we don’t need.  The main reason we go to Costco other than paper products, is Organic Chicken and Turkey Jerky.  
• We need to plan our meals better. We need to plan a menu, make a grocery list and STICK TO IT.
• We need to do more prep work for lunches,  make more “grab and go stuff” and make more simple/crock pot meals.
• Meals don't have to be 3-5 courses.  They can be A salad.  I'm cooking for 2, not 4 and not 8.  Neither of us are starving, and left overs are not required.

We also need to spend ONE weekend a month at home. Meaning.... staying in (for the most part) and keeping it as close to free as we can. We can hike or walk around, but we need to pack all meals, snacks, drinks, etc. We can drink, but we have to drink at home.  And we can do fancy.  Dungeness Crab is on sale this week for $3.99/lb.  We'd be STUPID to go out eat!

In addition to spending one weekend a month in, we need to plan one weekend a month away.... There is so much to see and do around here.  Yes, we can do higer end weekend trips like Vancouver and Portland and San Juan Islands (whale watching) - were we eat out and stay in hotels, but we can also do cheap camping/cabin trips were we hike, pack picnics and cook out burgers and dogs.

Our food spending is ridiculous and gluttonous.  2- 32 year old's don’t need to be spending such obscene amounts of money on FOOD.  But knowing is half the battle.... like my weight loss, I know there is a issue, and it needs to change and I have a plan to change it (following that plan is a whole other story).  To be honest, the time and money and thought I'm spending on food is probably directly related to the fact I can't lose weight, imagine that!!!! 

One should eat to live, not live to eat.  ~Cicero, Rhetoricorum LV